Shy, bespectacled Alfred doesn’t fit in with other kids; perhaps because of this, he falls in love with books at an early age and determines to collect them all. Finally, Alfred manages to round up the last book in town and, unsure of what to do, settles into his home to read each and every volume. Meanwhile, without books, life becomes dull for the other inhabitants of the town. When the very well-read and much older Alfred emerges, he brings books for the people as well as a lesson about sharing them. Pamintuan’s bright, shiny, sharp-edged illustrations portray the young boy amid towering stacks and the rolling landscape of his small town as he and his collection grow, while tight, crisp rhymes trace his journey. If the story is both a tad predictable and a bit confusing (why did Alfred collect books if he didn’t intend to read them?), the colorful pictures will draw children in, and the sprightly text will hold their attention. While its ultimate message may be worthy, however, this parable may be a little too opaque for child readers. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-000581-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
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